r/OverwatchUniversity

I have been a DPS player for as long as I can imagine, and with a support duo who usually sits a bit lower rank wise, they asked me to play support so I can work on my knowledge. This was a couple seasons ago and since starting I have consistently sat at masters with support. They are still baffled by this and struggle with supporting despite that being their "thing".

The problem.

Their biggest issue is what I want to talk about here and get some opinions on. Mainly because looking around, I see a lot of other support mains with an opposition to how I play, focusing on healing first, utility second. My friend has the philosophy stuck in his head that they are not a healer first and should not prioritize it. They even go far to avoid supports that I have labeled from my personal experience as main healers and off healers. I personally believe that you should always have one of each on a team and if you do not, you are going to lose out in solo / duo queue.

Why does it feel like the majority of players hold this opinion?

The opinion that supports are not healers. The primary function of a support is that they can heal. It is what seperates the role and we have yet to have a support hero who cannot heal. No one is telling you to just be a heal bot, as each support has a different priority for what their objectives are.

A good example is looking through replays and watching my friend play support. He has the same healing score as the majority, but the heals are never actually producing any results. If you heal a 300 hp hero and they accomplish nothing and die, your healing has essentially been zeroed out. This was a lot of his healing, mainly because priorities were more focused on DPS and utility. His picks never accomplished real objectives despite securing some kills and doing a shadow of what he could possibly do.

Do you pick your support with the healing debuff in mind?

Do you consider it? How much total healing you can output if your ally is taking damage? How you can respectfully heal an ally who has properly backed off and is now in cover? That if you are playing with a brig, and you pick zen, that you have no burst healing to top off your team when they return. How do you deal with not having that healing?

How do you beat this in a 1v1? I like to 1v1 when not playing quick play or ranked. As soon as I start winning they swap to mauga and there’s nothing I can do. It can facetank anything and use charge to run away and heal up or engage with 200 free damage. And can heal themselves while doing 500 damage per second. What is the strategy to beat this bs? I try to play orisa but hitting every spear and only headshots doesn’t even get it below half health like what do I do?

Im just confused and a bit frusted at myself when i practice on QP i usally do alright i hit most of my shots end the game with and over all i contribute to the team. however the moment i swap to comp its like everything is throw out of the window I barely hit my shots i don't contribute anything my game sense is just gone and its like im throwing the entire game.

is this a mental thing? is it some sort of mental block or is it something else like everyone just being better on comp

Any special training or tips? Just wanting to learn more about my favorite thanks in advance :D (also wouldn’t mind some Ashe, junk and sym advice as well!). I’ve finally advanced to gold but I’m noticing I’m holding my team back and I want to stop doing that. One of my main issues is I keep flicking dramatically after shooting, throws my whole aim off.

I know the point of the game is to win the objective but idrk what gets to that. Most of my matches (i play dps) im kind of just shooting at the enemies while playing behind my tank and protecting my backline as soldier76 but i cant really tell why i win or why i lose. It kind of just happens. Sometimes we slam them and sometimes they slam us but idk what made that happen. In fighting games i can tell why i lost or why i won, same with shooters like counter strike but im struggling in this game. I realized in all my hours of tf2 i never even thought about wins or losses and kind of just played for myself and did whatever i thought was fun but now i want to get better at overwatch and i cant do that lol

As the tittle says I am trying to experiment with my controls to see if i can better my aim and become a “better” player, I wanna be able to use high sensitivity since it gives me an advantage on some characters too. Would appreciate any other tips if you guys have extra tips on anything else aside my question.

I see people always say "keep improving and you'll climb", but how does that account for bad teammates? So often people run in and die instantly or refuse to regroup when the odds are bad or die to random shots from Junkrat. Can a single Juno really win a game all by herself? What are ways that a player can climb out of bronze without having to rely on teammates?​

It’s genuinely so annoying. Sometimes you get really bad players in ranked, and that’s fine. It’s just a game.

Earlier, I had an Anran who kept charging in and dying over and over again. He ended up with 18 deaths, but I didn’t say anything. There was a cheater on the enemy team, and I just figured he was probably a new player. Overwatch tends to place new players pretty high anyway.

Then, right before we lost, that Anran started flaming me, saying he had more damage than I did.

Yeah dumbass. Of course you have more damage when all you do is charge in, fight, die, and repeat.

It seriously pisses me off. I kept my mouth shut because I was trying to be nice.

You don’t even know how to play the game, you can’t even tell that the enemy is cheating, so why is blaming your teammates the first thing you learned?

Then the other players started blaming each other in chat too — specifically, the two players who were the worst after that guy.

The only person who actually played well, our Zenyatta, was also the only one saying anything reasonable. He just said, “That guy is cheating. Let’s report him,” and otherwise stayed quiet.

Seriously, why are people like this??

You don’t even know how to play the game. You can’t even recognize when an enemy is a cheater or a smurf... You guys played terribly.

Please, for the love of God, watch your own gameplay in the replay just once, from both first-person and third-person perspectives!!

At this point, maybe I should just start calling people like this out too. It genuinely feels like a slap in the face, and it’s so damn irritating.

Im a bastion main but i feel like in a lot of scenarios im not needed/ could be a different op, so ive decided to try and learn genji because of that (and because im tired of being called no skill) but im just wondering if theres any tips or advice i should take? I do well already but im not consistent and thats what i need.

I'm gold and 90% of the time I am playing a hitscan and they all pretty much require good aim. I never played any mkb games that required aim before this game. My aim started getting a lot better at the beginning but at about 6 months it plateued so I focused more on positioning and that helped me climb into gold and thats where i've stayed ever since. My sensitivity isnt super high either, I hear that's a common problem for accuracy.

Is it a normal think to have an issue with for this long? Is there anything I should do to get better faster?

Hi! So pretty recently ive picked up Shion as a regular character I play, im level 12 rn but I think I consistently play her decently, very rarely having games where I do "bad" (Hope that doesnt sound cocky! im horrible at other flanking dps, i go negative constantly, shes the first ive done better on)

but I notice I really struggle using her ultimate, occasionally ill get a 3k or 4k but most of the time im getting basically one shot not even one spin in - I dont know how to be more consistently impactful with it, just wondering if theres any like "secret" tech to help me stay alive with it longer or if im supposed use it differently then just charging into a full team? LOL

Im a ps4 player (im broke ik) but play mnk (barely play any shooter games on mnk) and I have around 200 hours soo I’m defo new to the game, and to make it worst I main tracer lol, I’m not sure why my aim is soooooo awful I can assure u that I know how to play tracer 80% of the time but I still struggle a lot with my AIM what can I doo to make it better?

Hello, I just came back to the game after a period away from it. Over the last year, I only played in season 1, but only in qp. So the last time I played in comp was before Wuyang released, but now that I'm having fun with the game again, I wanna put a hero pool together and hop back in.

My issue is I'm spoiled for choice. I main DPS and holy hell, they've been pumping out damage heroes over the last while. Five new ones since I last ranked, and they all caught my eye. I wanna avoid potentially assembling the dopamine spike Avengers, so I'd like to hear some level headed takes from people who get the meta and heroes' niches better than I do now.

To start off, Echo is my favorite hero in the game. Her play style fits me best, I just like the little game of fishing you play from mid-range followed by the pounce. I love her mobility simply because of how versatile it makes the angles she can take. There's a fluidity to this hero that's hard to replicate on anything else.

Then, I feel like picking a main DPS/hitscan hero is the next step, right? Last time I was in comp, I was one-tricking Widow for a season. This was my attempt at stepping out of the comfort zone and putting myself out there to be mogged by flanking Kiriko players. But it worked and it made me a lot more confident in my angles and ability to hit shots under constant pressure. I also find Widow 1v1s to be one of the most fun matchups in the game.

Third, Vendetta won me over. I was skeptical at first, but she feels like the second coming of DPS Doom that Venture never was. It's just that I still have a lot of work to do on her. Some games I'm their father. In others, enemy team picks Mizuki and suddenly my palms are sweaty. Is she a consistently valuable hero to commit to at all, or more of a one-trick material? I think she got hella banned in comp last time I checked too.

Would these 3 work well as a base or is it a house of cards? I like them in principle, but their weaknesses are kinda glaring, so I'm uncertain. At any rate, I am looking at potential fillers or replacements.

Ashe has been my comfort pick hitscan for ages, due to how "safe" she feels with her positioning and power budget. Emre also ended up surprisining me with how smooth his gameplay loop is. Is adding either of them to the hero pool gonna do much?

For flankers, can't go wrong with the classics like Tracer or Genji, but Anran's fun to mess with their backliners too. My only worry with her is that her kit is kinda "sloppy". I feel like there's too much fluff, not enough edge in there. I'm lowkey playing tug of war with enemy supports on my target's hp at times.

A lot of the remaining newer DPS give me that ick, actually. They feel like jack of all trades, master of none. Miss Sojourn 2.0 Sierra over here is a great example. Kit feels buttery smooth, but what's her niche? Shion feels like Cass' and Reaper's lovechild, but are you ever gonna ask a teammate to pick her for any reason? Freja, same thing. If they buff her, hell on earth. If they nerf her, almost worse than Hanzo. I enjoy playing these but are they heroes worth sticking to in the long run?

The rest of the damage heroes, I either don't got the hands for or they've been kinda left behind / in rework limbo (looking at you Sombra and Reaper).

Anyway, I've rambled enough. 😅 I know having fun is ultimately what matters, but a decent amount of the fun for me isn't about how the hero plays in a vacuum but rather how their kit interacts with win cons and the maps. I don't like changing up the heroes I play too often, so I want to feel like I've got reliable options. Any kind of advice or tip on the overall comp meta would be welcome.

Plat 2 game, I played Juno (Tad), game code: HD3QMM

earlier on I had a bit of a radicalisation moment where I realised that a lot of my losses were happening because the enemy dps would take a good angle or flank route, and my dps would spam their tank instead of trying to deny the enemy angle, resulting in me becoming a clay pigeon for the enemy ashe

so I decided if my dps wouldn't control the angles, I would spend parts of the game trying to cover their laziness. this game is the result of that.

I got heavy flamed for throwing and 3 of my teammates said to report me when the game ended... despite me going 26/30/8 9.9k 7.9k and the enemy Juno going 20/21/11 7k 7.3k ...

did I throw or not?

edit: yes i know my aim is doodoo kaka, please ignore it.

i tried looking up guides on yt, but most of them are from season 1 and might be a bit outdated. which is why im asking this here

i want to play Domina better. right now i feel like my impact is non existent, any pressure i apply gets ignored and i get punsihed for it, i get run over by brawl tanks like Rein, Ram, Dmon and Queen.

Any Domina players willing to help me out with some tips, explinations or general knowlege?

First time posting here, but I can use some serious help on figuring out how to get out of bronze. I have about 200 hours in QP with my 6 stack, but all of them play much more and are all in emerald (I have a job so I don’t have as much time).

Backstory is I bought OW1 at launch and played Hog. Picked it up again many years later and I mostly play Hog and Mauga (they say I’m scum for this lol).

Long story short, started playing comp and I’ll have a great game (37 kills, 7 deaths, 16k damage) and still lose. I’m 0-6 since I got ranked and got demoted to bronze 2.

I’ve now decided to switch to Ram for tank, and refine my game with Venture and Ana for other categories, keeping my mains in back pocket if needed.

Half of my games end with the server shutting down or everyone leaving. How tf do I get out of bronze? I just wanna play with my friends, they want me in high gold

Replay codes: EMPBWN for hog and BCFPC8 for my most recent game on Ram

I’m a sigma main, still pretty new to the game nevertheless. How do i use my ultimate better? I usually use it whenever theres a large group of people at a point, but I somehow always manage to leave out 2-3 people and only kill 1 person or even none. I see people saying to not use it like that and rather use it against one specific person, such as a tank or 1-2 supports that are out of position, but i also see its better to use it in bigger team fights. Whenever i ult, my team never usually follows up, so im thinking its with my usage is wrong, using it whenever theres a large group of people. Any tips please?

Hero: Soldier 76
Rank: Silver 2
Map: New Queen Street
Platform: Xbox
Gamertag: Valdyr
VOD: VDRKCS
Match Time: 11:22
Perks: Helix Propulsion and Stim Pack

Ever since I started playing OW in 2016 I’ve avoided Soldier 76. Mostly because I used to be a tank main, but after a break I’ve been playing mostly DPS and have avoided him because “Call of Duty Man is boring”. Especially with such a diverse roster. It felt like playing D&D as a basic human male. I could not have been more wrong.

With a decent damage potential and his ability to re-angle, S76 feels amazing to play IMO. So, I’ve decided that I want to get better with him and use him to climb out of the metal ranks once and for all.

I’m an old gamer (47) who earnestly wants to improve.

It’s easy enough to review a map we lost to point out what could have gone better but I’d prefer to review a win to see what could have made the experience even better. I’ve watched the VOD and have seen some positional mistakes, and a few times where my awareness gave way to chasing a kill I should have let go. These are things I know I need to work on. My question in what else should I be focusing on? I warm up in VAXTA and some deathmatch, but I know my aim still needs work. But what other mechanical or decision making skills should I be refining?

And finally, in your opinion, do I have the pieces I need in order to climb or am I a lost cause? I have no hubris to believe I’ll ever be Chanp or anything but I honestly feel like I could at least leave Silver.